5 Day Pouch Test Blog

New Vitamin Bundle at Bariceuticals

Silvia Demeter, our friend and founder of the made-just-for-us Bariceuticals™ liquid vitamins has put together a new product bundle. Called "Cathy's Choice" the kit includes a 30 Day Supply of our famous liquid multi-vitamins and our pharmaceutical grade sublingual B-12 complex spray. You will also receive 30 day supply of our exclusive iron tabs. In this kit you will so receive a free sample of total protein. This is affordable priced at just $99 for the months supply.

Bariceuticals™ vitamins have been specifically formulated to be absorbed by surgical weight loss patients. Silvia tells us, "Our patent pending Bariceuticals™ are the only complete liquid nutritional supplementation system that is completely formulated ingredient by ingredient to target the unique absorption needs of bariatric patients. With this system you will consume only the ingredients that the body is lacking, or will lack shortly after surgery. We do not use unnecessary ingredients that can bind together or cancel each other out, thus causing a void of nutrients."

When we undergo weight loss surgery we are told that our bodies will not absorb vitamins and nutrients the same way as one without surgery. Many people opt to take inexpensive multi-vitamins and often they report feeling weary, lifeless, sad and unenergized. That is because they are nutrient deficient. Silvia says, "The liquid format of Bariceuticals™ has an absorption rate of 80 to 90% in the upper intestine where nutrients are most readily absorbed. Our goal is to educate you, our consumer, on Bariceuticals™. We know that an educated bariatric patient is our best customer."

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Silvia is genuinely concerned about our best health after WLS and she easily recalls the days and months following her own surgical weight loss when she felt lethargic and lifeless. That is how she came to be the founder of this quality nutritional supplement: she herself wanted to feel better. She says, "We at Bariceuticals™ want nothing more than for you to absolutely love the new you. You deserve to feel and look great. To that end we ask you to give Bariceuticals™ a two to three week trial period. You will feel a difference, in a week’s time. If your body is extremely deficient your trial phase may take two weeks. At the end of your trial phase, if you don't absolutely love Bariceuticals™, please return the unused portion for a full refund - including shipping cost. We are that confident that you will embrace Bariceuticals™."

Read some product Testimonials

Put Down the Popcorn! After WLS a Definite Don't

By Kaye Bailey

Brand new patients are not likely to ask if popcorn is a do or a don't after gastric bypass. They don't ask because the stomach is too tender and sensitive to even consider the intake of roughage like popcorn. But almost universally, you will find patients two or more years out have dipped into the popcorn bowl.

My trespass in the popcorn bowl resulted in a constant state of low-grade dumping and a 5-pound weight gain in two weeks. I called my WLS counselor and she gave me a big “NO! NO! NO!” She said popcorn is a high carbohydrate food that rapidly dumps into the small intestine causing insulin to drop and dumping to result. Patients also tend to out-eat their pouch with popcorn because they usually consume a beverage as they eat popcorn creating a slurry that quickly moves through the stoma – thus more can be consumed in a single sitting. Finally, she said, eating popcorn is mindless and not generally related to hunger. It is a perceived to be an acceptable return to snacking and leads to other snacking abuses.

I stopped the mindless munching on popcorn and feel a whole lot better. But I do miss it and when I smell a fresh batch of microwave popcorn I am likely to lose my mind! But it’s just not worth it.

For conventional dieters popcorn itself is a nutritious snack choice, containing more fiber than snacks made with refined flour. In the standard three-cup serving (the size of a small mixing bowl), air-popped popcorn contains just 93 calories and less than 1.5 grams of fat and 3.6 grams dietary fiber. Dietary fiber — also known as roughage or bulk — includes all parts of plant foods that your body can't digest or absorb.

Kaye Bailey © 2005 - All Rights Reserved http://www.livingafterwls.com http://www.livingafterwls.blogspot.com

BariCeutical Liquid Vitamins

Nutritionally deprived, wrinkled, drained and tired is not what Silvia Demeter envisioned when she underwent gastric banding surgery in 2003. But that is how she found herself feeling after losing weight.

"I felt like I was starving. My skin was wrinkled, my hair was falling out. I felt drained and tired. Even grocery shopping or caring for my family was a chore. By 5PM each day I was a couch potato," said Silvia. Even as an obese person Silvia was mindful of nutrition turning to organic solutions to meet her nutritional needs. " After surgery I was taking the hard-tablet vitamins prescribed by my surgical weight loss center. But with a gastric band hard vitamins get stuck and I suffered from acid reflux."

But worse than the acid reflux was the inability of Silvia's body to absorb the greatly needed nutrients in the vitamins. Studies indicate that it takes a normal digestive system as long as four hours to absorb as little as 20% of the nutrients in a vitamin. The inactive ingredients in vitamins such as binders, fillers, artificial colors, flavors, wax coatings and preservatives slow down absorption.

No wonder Silvia and so many weight loss surgery patients are nutritionally deficient.

In her very personal struggle to become nutritionally healthy Silvia visited health food stores and started mixing her own cocktail of liquid vitamins. But it wasn't enough. "I started attending conventions and consulting with an absorption specialist, along with many bariatric professionals because there had to be a better way to meet my nutritional needs," said Silvia.

Silvia became her own scientist and surrounded herself with the best experts in the fields of nutrition, absorption and bariatrics. The result: The BariCeutical Prescription, the only patent-pending bariatric supplements specifically designed for the bariatric patients and endorsed by top physicians in the United States.

BariCeutical liquid vitamins immediately release nutrients in the gastrointestinal tract within thirty seconds of consumption and the overall absorption is 98%.  Silvia says, "With each vitamin supplement that we make our goal is to provide you with meaningful vitamins that provide you maximum benefit. Through research, quality control and quality ingredients that's the BariCeutical Prescription difference. It's our life's work."

Silvia Demeter is the real deal: she is one of us. Her passion for living well after gastric weight loss surgery is unsurpassed. "I founded this company for me because I wanted to feel like my old self, full of energy and ambition. Now it is my pleasure to share these products with the world of weight loss surgery so that everyone can be nourished and feel the energy of a healthy weight well-fed body."

Learn more about The BariCeutical Prescription and living a well-balanced nutritionally fit life.

Healthy Snack Trap

Are you caught in the "healthy snack trap?" Are you lured in by foods with a healthy wholesome image? Foods like nuts, yogurt and granola?

Many a WLS post-op has fallen under the spell of healthy snacks thinking the nuts, yogurt and granola can be consumed with abandon. But what really happens is a sabotage of weight loss results from indulging in these "healthy snacks". Many brands of granola, for example, can be packed with up to 600 high-fat calories per one cup serving, something a WLS patient can easily eat during the course of a day without disrupting the function of the pouch.

Nuts are protein, right? So we think we are compliant with the *Rules" when we snack on nuts. Consider this: one ounce of roasted mixed nuts contains 175 calories and 14 grams of fat, 5 grams protein and 8 grams carbohydrate.

Not exactly protein first. (Remember the Protein First rule?)

Don't be lured by the marketing claims or urban legends that certain foods are diet or health foods.

Read labels.

Ask your bariatric dietitian.

Research.

Don't let the cloak of "health food" spoil your WLS success!

Read more in the LivingAfterWLS Library: The Nutty Truth About Nuts

For daily support in your LivingAfterWLS lifestyle visit the Neighborhood, a safe have circle of friends who are LivingAfterWLS.

Dark Chocolate May Lower Blood Pressure

Good news for chocolate lovers: a small German study reports that a daily nibble of dark chocolate containing 50% or more cocoa may modestly lower your blood pressure without causing weight gain or raising cholesterol or glucose levels.

The study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association monitored participants who ate a 6 gram square of dark chocolate each day for 18 weeks. Dark chocolate is a good source of flavonoids – the antioxidant that is believed to improve the function of blood vessels.

At the end of the study the dark chocolate eaters saw a drop in their top (systolic) blood pressure number of 3 millimeters and the bottom (diastolic) number drop 2mm. The control group eating an equal amount of white chocolate saw no reduction in blood pressure.

Mayo clinic doctors praise the growing body of research identifying the health benefits of chocolate. However they say that it’s still too early to recommend eating chocolate for controlling hypertension.

Source: Mayo Clinic Health Letter: November 2007